Friday 30 October 2020Opening Words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 I’ve spent a good proportion of the last week writing about the year we’ve had and what it’s meant for the school. I enjoyed writing the foreword to this year’s Valedictory Book, thinking about our Year 13 graduating class, what they have brought to the school, and what it means to be moving on to university in a world that feels a little less certain than it did a year ago. This year’s graduating class is our largest ever, and one of our most ambitious too: they’ll be heading off to universities in the UK, US and Australia, as well as in New Zealand, of course. In some cases, they may be thinking about delaying their journeys overseas, but I know that they’ll get there. I’m going to miss them: their sense of fun as well as their commitment and determination. I have written pieces for Panorama and the Yearbook as well, both of which will be published towards the end of term. I feel hopeful in many ways, actually. This year has of course been a terrible one for many people, and in many parts of the world it continues to be a hard place to live. My father lives in Nottinghamshire in the UK, where I was brought up: the virus isn’t controlled in that part of the country, and so he’s again going to be locked down. He’s safe, but I worry, and I know that many of you are in a similar position. At the same time, of course, people are less certain about their livelihoods, and we all know that there are difficulties still to come. But I spend my life with our young people, staff and parents, and this year has again confirmed for me how strong we are, and how resilient we can be. When we speak to our children about their experiences this year, and about their hope and dreams, they remain clear-eyed and confident about their lives to come. They are working hard, playing hard, as engaged, positive and happy now as they were at the start of the year. Yes, things have changed, but our whole community has adapted, retained its values, and moves into the future calmly, with our structures and confidence intact. The baby is still very definitely in the bath water! This week, our Year 8s have been exhausting themselves and their teachers on ice rinks, in go-karts, up trees and on bikes, and screaming their way around Rainbows End. A huge thank you from me to the Year 8 homeroom teachers, led by Angela Smith, the Year 8 Dean, who deserve a good rest this weekend. We’ve also taken part in College Mathex tournaments across the bridge, been training hard at netball, touch, basketball and a huge number of other sports… Our Year 7 boys and Year 7 girls gymnastics teams both won their competitions at the Zone Day – well done! – and Year 6 have been sailing on the cool spring sea at Murrays Bay. Our Year 6 student leadership team also organised some wonderful tabloid sports for our littlest children, and our College-Primary buddy class afternoon yesterday was great fun for everyone as it always is. There has been a huge amount of learning too, of course, and our senior students continue to take their Cambridge exams. We are very happy with the effort (nearly!) all of our students are making with these, and we’re confident that, once again, Pinehurst students will do themselves and their families proud. Keep working, and keep everything in proportion too: a good balance between work, play and downtime remains essential. Ka kite anō au i a koutou. Have a lovely weekend! Alex Reed 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Kia Ora, One of the many things I love about New Zealand is the opportunity to extend the classroom to the outdoors. Each year our Year 6 students have the chance to learn to sail optimist boats on the water at Murrays Bay and this week was the second visit of 2020. Tuesday was a glorious day for sailing and P19 really made the most of the sunshine and perfect conditions. Wednesday was the turn of P20 and even though it was a very different day the students were fantastic and managed to sail until lunchtime. P18 are still waiting for their turn and will hopefully get out on the water on one of the saver days. We are looking forward to athletics days in the coming weeks with separate events for each syndicate. Our New to 2 syndicate had a little taster with a lunchtime tabloid sports event wonderfully organised by the Primary Council. It is great to be able to give them the opportunities to organise events for younger students now that we are able to mix between syndicates. The next event will be the Teddy Bears Picnic and we are all really looking forward to that! On Thursday afternoon we had visits from our College buddies in Year 7 and Year 9 and everyone was really excited. The College students were desperate to play on our new playground, still children at heart, and the Primary loved to spend time with older students who they look up to. One of the best aspects of our school is having students from Year 1-13 and we loved to see how caring and thoughtful our College students were in their interactions with young children. We haven’t had many chances to meet this year but we will continue to plan to meet with our buddy classes each term. We are busy planning camps for 2021 and will hold our Year 5 and Year 6 camp meetings on 4 November. Each year our children get to experience a different venue with increasing levels of challenge. In Year 3 we visit Camp Maynard for 2 days, in Year 4 it’s Peter Snell camp for 3 days, Year 5 will go to Carey Park in Henderson and Year 6 to Lakewood Lodge in Huntly for a week. Camps are wonderful adventures and the friendships and memories that are made are priceless. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Gymnastics North Harbour Zone Day a success!On Wednesday the Pinehurst Year 7 gymnastics team went to North Harbour Stadium to compete in the Gymnastics Zone Day. Wearing our uniform, which was for the girls a shiny, glittery leotard and black bike shorts, and for the boys, a grey and navy-blue Pinehurst singlet and P.E shorts. 15 students from Pinehurst went, making up 2 teams of girls and one of boys. Out of a whopping 220 students from schools on the North Shore and schools from Whangaparoa and Wellsford, 9 Pinehurst students finishedin the top twenty with six of them finishing in the top ten! In the individual apparatus placement for boys, Anderson Chen was 2nd on floor, and following him was Riley Hurbuns in 3rd. Tristan Williams was 2nd on the Parallel bars. For the girls, Hannah Innes was 2nd on the uneven bars and 1st on the beam. Following her were Ivy Roodt and Charliee Hawkings, 3rd equal on the beam. In the individual overall placement, Hannah Innes came first place, followed by Ivy Roodt in fourth, Anderson Chen in fifth, and Guy Williams in sixth place. In the overall team placement, one girls team won first place! This team was made up of Hannah Innes, Ivy Roodt, Lily McCabe, and Sophie Mackenzie. The boys team won third overall! This team included Anderson Chen, Guy Williams, Ngatoro Wilson, and Riley Hurbuns. Overall, this was a fun experience. We will work hard again and precipitate in this again next year. Written by Rena and Zoe. P1's PlantsIn P1 we have had a wonderful time learning about plants in Science. In particular, how to grow a magic bean plant from a bean. Last week, the children were so excited to plant their very own magic bean, just like in the fairy tale ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ which we have been basing our learning on in Literacy. Arton and Leo’s magic beanstalk takes them to space, Hadleigh’s takes him into the future and Emmie’s takes her to a Fairy World! We plan to observe the changes in our plants and recorded our findings in our own Magic Bean Diaries. P1 have been learning about what plants need to grow. We have our very own Little Garden to help us to understand the importance of making sure they have enough water and sunlight every day. It has been wonderful to see the children so engaged in their learning and we look forward to seeing how big our beans will grow! P2 NewsWe have been feeling the spring and summer weather in P4 over the last few weeks. Year 1 students have worked hard making creative decisions in art to create a feeling of spring and summer through our projects. We loved looking at the beautiful flowers and trees that are starting to come out around school. P4 created beautiful vases and cherry blossoms to make the classroom extra beautiful. Last week in Maths we learned how to make arrays in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. We used all the materials around the classroom to make and count our arrays. We are so excited to be starting multiplication and division! Community Constables Visit P10There was much excitement and Year 3 students were on their best behaviour for this weeks' visitors. We discussed the role of Community Constables and how they are part of an umbrella that support and help us. Constable Louise and Constable Brad reminded us all about the many ways we can keep ourselves safe when out and about in our community. Important details for us to memorise are our full name, address and phone number. These will help us if we ever get separated from friends or family when we are out and about. Olive discovered that police carry flashlights as they also work at night-time not just during the day. Leo thought that the police used their powerful tasers lots but when he asked them about that, he found out that the police hardly use tasers at all. In fact, the most powerful tool that a police officer has is their voice and how they communicate. A story that the Constable’s shared which stuck in Summer’s mind was, she realised that police officers sometimes also have to control naughty dogs, not just naughty people. Medieval Times in P12Year 4 students in P12 started Term 4 with an exciting writing adventure. Our mission for this term is to create a board game, along with characters set in Medieval Times. Our students have been looking closely at audience purpose, powerful vocabulary and gripping language techniques. We have some thriller character descriptions that are coming through, a mix of characters that helps and hinders to get through to the Chalice! Take a read through some of our exciting character descriptions.
Waterwise ReflectionOn the 27th October, P19 drove to Murrays Bay for Waterwise. On arrival the P19 students rushed out of the van and ran towards the big tree to put their bags away. The lady helping, Paula, is very professional at rigging optimists, which include a lot of complicated knots. Afterwards, the students got in groups of four and rigged their optimists, they changed into wet-suits and put on life jackets for safety. Paula taught them how to control the tiller and the main sheet, after a quick lunch, they sailed for a long enjoyable time until the capsizing lesson, they all enjoyed it a lot. As they left, they were excited about another chance to come again, even though it was the last time. Written by Cesar Xu, Callum Morgan, Jerry Li, Jessica Picard and Celina Lee. Kia Ora, Despite the shortened week I am confident that Year 8 students will be well and truly exhausted by the end of the day today and ready for a weekend. This week they have been out on field trips for the week due to missing their Winter Camp last term. I was fortunate to join them yesterday in Woodhill Forest where they took on the Tree Adventures high wire course, and also mountain biking. Not being particularly comfortable with heights myself, I appreciated the grit and determination that I witnessed from our students as they pushed themselves out of their comfort zones and challenged each other. This was the same for the mountain biking, where there were a few tumbles along the way, but students were quick to get back on their bikes and continue along the trails. Thank you to Ms Smith and the Year 8 homeroom teachers for all of their efforts in making this week happen for our students. For all of the other college students it has been a settled week and yesterday we were able to enjoy our class buddy time with the Primary school. This is something that we normally do once a term where each POD class spends a period with a Primary class doing activities and building relationships to help connect our entire school community. All of the students looked to have had a brilliant time and I know that both the big kids, and the little kids, enjoyed the afternoon in equal measure. This week we have had our Mathex teams competing in the Auckland competition in Kohimarama. Both students and teachers have enjoyed the very competitive events and we will have some updated results in next weeks' newsletter. Next week will be a very settled week of classes as students prepare for their end of year examinations in Week 5. All students should be aware of their examination schedule, which is available on SchoolBox, and should be working through a revision schedule that will support them to put in their best possible performance in the end of year assessments. If you have any concerns or questions about the assessments, please do not hesitate to contact the relevant teacher. Ngā mihi, Kieran Verryt, Principal of College My Music Ignites My Soul‘My music ignites my soul’ is a new initiative that is going to be launched by the Duke of Edinburgh International Award in conjunction with Age Concern, Summerset NZ and Pinehurst as the launching school, here in New Zealand. This initiative brings together young people with digital skills and music appreciation with senior citizens who have their own music landscape and memories. The aim is for young people to prepare a playlist for a senior, that they can listen to with the ease of a press of an icon. This programme’s ambition, alongside the musical legacy for senior citizens, is to foster inter-generational and cross-cultural relationships and understanding. The journey started with past Pinehurst School teacher Pauline Grogan, who through a personal experience of sharing music with an old, dear friend noticed a positive change. Pauline who is not one to sit still, wondered how she could spread the word and bring this opportunity to all seniors in care facilities in a meaningful way and that is how the Duke of Edinburgh Award, became involved. Our hope is that by giving students the opportunity and training, through the service component of the award, that they will foster intergenerational relationships, with empathy and enthusiasm, but most of all help music to ignite the soul in all participating. Year 8 Activities WeekDue to Covid-19, the Year 8s had their Leadership Camp in Term 1 and Skiing Camp in Term 3 cancelled this year. As a replacement, we had a week of off-site activities. On Tuesday, we went to Game-Over for Go-Kart Racing and Jump. Everyone had a lot of fun improving their driving skills and doing jumps and tumbles on the indoor trampolines. Wednesday saw us dress up in our winter jackets and travel to Avondale where we alternated between Ice Skating and Laser Tag - the students had great fun ‘shooting’ their teachers. On Thursday we all were pushed a little out of our comfort zones at Woodhill Forest where we went to Tree Adventures and Mountain Biking. A huge thanks needs to go to the parents who came along, as we could not have done these activities without you. Friday rounded off the week with us having a fantastic day at Rainbow’s End. A big thanks also to Ms Webb, Mrs Schulte, Ms Forrester, Mrs Peters and Mr Reynolds for making this week go so smoothly. Year 8 & 9 ScienceYear 8 Science students are making colourful vacuoles and they are also investigating the reaction of magnesium and oxygen. Year 9 Science students are making indicators from petals of different flowers. Year 10 GeographyThis week in Year 10 Geography, we are learning about Coastal formations. To consolidate our knowledge of the erosional processes at play in creating these landforms, we have been using playdough. We build the landform at different stages of it's development, take photos of each of the stages, label the images with the appropriate terminology and put them together to form a flick album or an animation. It's a fun way to test our understanding. Economics is Everywhere!This week the Year 10 Economics class analysed their favourite movies, TV shows and games for examples of economic concepts! They were very successful, finding examples of concepts, like Scarcity, Supply and Demand, Opportunity Cost, Division of Labour, Specialisation, Choice of Occupation, Market Failure, Monopoly and Perfect Information. Students found Economics in TV shows like Peppa Pig and Bob the Builder; in Movies, like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella; and in games such as Stellaris, Among Us, and Arknights. Below are some examples of their work. Design Technology - Year 12 AS and Year 13 A2The culmination of a year’s product design and development has resulted in the A level students producing a diverse collection of solutions. Ranging from a sideboard tank to hold the family’s pet axolotl to a grandfather clock that will feature in a hallway. A cabinet to hold stationary and study notes that fits above a desk and a brilliant modular entertainment unit that can be arranged depending on function or mood. AS level students make a scale model and the quality of these is very high for workmanship and design. A2 students make their refined design from Year 12 full size. Oscar made full use of Cad and CNC manufacturing methods as well as traditional cabinetmaking skills to build a magnificent unit that will serve for years given its modular flexibility. Grandfather Clock. Harry designed this to go in the entrance hallway of his home. The aesthetic is intended to be both simple, modern, clean and also allude to tradition with the column and plinth. The design will include LED lighting behind the clock and inside the case. The internal shelves being glass to display some of his his parent's ornaments. The clock is made in sustainable Americal Oak and has a polished metal face and quartz mechanism. Axolotl Tank. Millie's pet axolotl had outgrown its little tank and needed to expand its gills into something more adventurous. Enter Millie, this is VIP luxury living at its finest. Needing to fit in with the décor and furniture at home the tank needed to be made from limed Oak (sustainable) and look strong and robust. This has been achieved with the feature construction detail and a heavy post and rail. This solution makes Millie's axolotl the talk of the living room. The model shows the hinged lid for easy maintenance, and will eventually include internal levels and pump and filtration systems fitted inside the glass tank. Stationary Cabinet. Hardworking, diligent students need somewhere to store school stuff. Scott wanted to be able to have all his papers, files, books drawing and tech equipment in one place. His desk was big and so there was space for a cabinet at the back and possibly wall mount. This design is intended for production and has been designed to be made by modern CNC processes and utilise existing hardware. The outside is intended to be a marble look and the inside recycled Jarrah doors and draw faces with macrocarpa internals for the smell. Entertainment Center. Oscar's project is a masterpiece. Not just the finished product which is an amazing achievement on its own but his portfolio also. This started showing an incredibly high level of care and thinking and just got better. This prototype represents two years of analysis, creativity, research, planning and communication with industry experts. The unit is made of sustainable high grade birch plywood. The modules that can be moved about and rearranged depending on what is being stored. The top holds a record player with the lid sliding behind the unit. The draw boxes hold games, remote controllers and games and the loose boxes hold records or Hi-Fi components. The project's construction and detail was refined using computer aided design and the components were made with CNC machines and assembled by hand in the school workshop. College ArtThis year’s Art & Design students have worked very hard to complete their coursework. Here are a few examples of the final outcomes created by both IGCSE and A Level students. SS Diving CompAt the recent Secondary School Diving competition, held on Labour Day Monday, Ivy Roodt (Year 7) & Zoe Atkinson (Year 8), representing Pinehurst, finished in 11th place out of 17 attending schools. Considering we only had 2 divers at this event, this is a fabulous result. Well done Ivy & Zoe! 2020 AIMES AwardsYuzhang Wu in Year 9 was awarded a Junior Excellence Award for her service to music at this week’s AIMES Awards evening held at the Beehive at Smales Farm. Yuzhang began studying piano at age five. She has won first prize at many music competitions, including North Shore Performing Arts Competition, SAPACS, WAPAC, IRMT, APPA, APMA & Hamilton competitions. Yuzhang’s goal is to become a good concert pianist as well as a music teacher. Congratulations on this award Yuzhang. Fantastic Results for Ryan and Gabriella at the 70th Dance ChampionshipRyan Hughes (Year 11) and Gabriella Beecroft (Year 10) competed at the Labour Weekend ‘s Open Dance Championships held in Porirua in Wellington. Ryan and Gabby have been dancing partners since the start of this year and despite the challenges to practice the Covid lockdowns presented them with, the pair were placed very well in the Adult Level 1 and the Youth Level Latin American categories: Latin
Adult Level 1 – 1st place Shuan awarded the Haydn Staples Piano Scholarship ProgrammeCongratulations to Shuan Liu (Year 13) who was awarded one of three, yearly awarded, Haydn Staples Piano Scholarships. This scholarship is awarded to worthy recipients who show outstanding potential and commitment to excelling both nationally and internationally as a pianist. The Scholarship Programme is administered by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, in conjunction with the University of Auckland’s School of Music, and made possible by the generous support of Haydn Staples. The Programme supports the Scholars for the duration of their studies by providing them with opportunities to develop a wide-ranging portfolio of skills that complement their advanced solo studies, including providing financial support, extra piano lessons with notable pianists in the industry, opportunities to participate in masterclasses with the APO and perform with the APO, to name a few. Nancy creates Covid DocumentaryThe A level Digital Media and Design students have been creating documentaries as part of their portfolio this year. Nancy was inspired by the Covid Lockdown period and created the following 17 minute documentary, named Diary of Covid-19. The work documents her perception and experience of this global event. Click here to view this moving and emotive documentary. I Spy...I Spy...Year 1-2 Tabloid Events organised by the Primary Council. I Spy... P5 building houses for the '3 Little Pigs'. Ladies Lunch 2020Thank you to all the lovely ladies who attended the luncheon at McHugh's on Cheltenham last Friday. It was great to see so many mums, aunts, grandmothers and alumni enjoying themselves. As well as a delicious buffet and beautiful views of Auckland Harbour, there were many prizes won and the interesting and inspiring speaker Samantha Hayes from TV3 Newshub, entertained us all.
Well done Aleksandr!Aleksandr Kivilev (Year 8) took part in the Rotorua “2020 Central North Islands Swimming Championships” over Labour Weekend. Aleksandr had a fantastic event, with a number of PB’s and in the 12-13 Boys division he placed 1st in 200 Breast, 2nd in 400 IM and 3rd in 400 free. |